Food poverty: Households, food banks and free school meals
This paper provides statistics on household food insecurity, food bank usage and free school meals in the UK, and tracks the impact of rising living costs.

This short paper explains what local road charging schemes are, how they can be implanted and what the attitudes of successive governments have been to their introduction.
Local road charges (262 KB , PDF)
The Labour Government legislated more than a decade and a half ago to allow local authorities to establish local road charging schemes in their areas: these were aimed at combating congestion and tackling poor air quality. However, use of these powers has been limited to a small scheme in Durham and, more recently, limited emissions-targeted schemes in places like Brighton and Nottingham.
The only congestion scheme in the UK is the one in London; plans to introduce such a scheme in Cambridge, Edinburgh and Manchester collapsed in the mid-2000s, in two cases following substantial defeats in local referenda.
However, poor air quality in many urban areas has led to a resurgence of interest in local road charges, specifically by introducing ‘low emission’ or ‘clean air’ zones in cities and conurbations across the UK. The UK Government has published an Air Quality Plan and a Clean Air Zone Framework to enable localities to press ahead with the introduction of CAZs where necessary.
London has had a low emission zone since 2008, which has been gradually strengthened, and there are plans to make this an ‘ultra’ low emission zone by 2019. This paper does not deal with the London schemes: more information can be found in HC Library briefing paper SN2044.
Further information on road charging can be found on the Roads Briefings Page of the Parliament website.
Local road charges (262 KB , PDF)
This paper provides statistics on household food insecurity, food bank usage and free school meals in the UK, and tracks the impact of rising living costs.
The Water Bill was introduced in the House of Commons on 16 October 2024, and its second reading took place on 28 March 2025. The second reading debate was adjourned, and is scheduled to continue on 4 July 2025, if there is time in the sitting. The Library briefing provides an overview of the bill and background information.
A private member’s bill sponsored by Aphra Brandreth MP to extend the offence of livestock worrying by dogs to include more livestock and new locations.